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Clockwork Planet • Anime

Clockwork Planet is a Sci-fi action adventure about a ragtag group running around maintaining the planet. A thousand years before the story begins, Earth is destroyed and a man called “Y” makes a whole planet from gears. As with any machine, the planet itself needs maintenance, to account for the slight miscalculations and other problems that arise in the clockwork.

This unique adventure and it’s melodious soundtrack takes you through grey city landscapes emphasizing the clock punk look, devoid of much nature, with the exception of a few nooks and crannies in the series’ world. This lack of a beautiful scenery and color is barely made up for by the beautifully animated gears, upbeat soundtrack and flamboyant clothing, all of which combine to save you from being bored by looking at a bland grey.

The animation is nothing too special, apart from the opening and ending credits, both of which are accompanied by catchy songs that I just couldn’t bring myself to skip.

The story starts off luring you in with it’s out-of-the-world setting, but falls short near the final episodes, because by then, you really don’t know how the protagonists are doing what they are doing. This, coupled with the nonsensical motives of some antagonists, really leaves a slight bitter taste in your mouth. Most of the Deus Ex Machinas are explained via scientific jargon, but when even the characters themselves don’t know what’s going on, it’s really not justifiable.

What redeemed Clockwork Planet (other than the soundtrack) were the characters and the interactions between them, along with some of the action scenes. Adding in an element of slice-of-life and comedy, along with romance, these interactions draw in your attention splendidly, and keep you entertained along the way.

The anime gives you a taste of what you can expect in terms of fighting within the first few minutes of the show with a preview. Most of the scenes weren’t too bad, but I didn’t really love any of them. The anime doesn’t shy away from blood, although there’s not much blood to be spilled anyway when fighting against cyborgs, automata and robots.

The most I can say about Clockwork Planet: It wasn’t too bad, but I’d recommend watching something else if you have more on your list.